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Jul 22, 2013

India’s mid-day meal program is one of the largest suchschemes in the world, serving almost 107 million children in about 1.2 milliongovernment and government-aided schools in the country. Free and wholesome food is certainly the greatest reason why many impoverished parents send their wards to school. So compelling is the incentive that many nonprofit organizationshave also adopted the program in non-aided schools. Enrolment and attendancenumbers have gone up considerably over the last few years, particularly at theprimary level. In many states, NGOs like Akshay Patra and the Naandi Foundationsupply mid-day meals to thousands of needy children and do a commendable job.

Last week’s tragic incident in Bihar where 23 innocent childrendied after consuming soyabean curry laced with pesticide, has now raised seriousdoubts about the mid-day meal scheme with several calls for jettisoning theprogram. Adverse news reports from Tamil Nadu and Delhi have contributed to theoutcry. However, it must be remembered that although the scheme suffers fromthe lack of efficient implementation, it imparts far too many benefits to be abandonedin a huff.

Millions of boys and girls will join the labour force or betrafficked the day they drop out of school. The mid-day meal is the singular cordthat binds them to safety.

So what should be done? The government must realize that itcannot force schools to run kitchen stores in places where even toilets are adream. The Rs 430 odd crore that laid unutilized in Bihar for purchase ofcooking utensils shows that school administrators do not have the wherewithalto carry out such non-core responsibilities.

On the other hand, roadside eateries dot the country’s landscape.There isn’t a single village where a stranger will not find fresh food. Howmany restaurants sell pesticides for lunch?

It is time to invite participation from entrepreneurs,private caterers and even the Indian Railways to serve safe and nutritious foodto our children. The real problem, lies not in the scheme but in the measlyfund allocation per child.

CII’s report on “Urgentneeds of NGOs in the education sector” suggests thatschool principals be directly issued letters of credit that can be used topurchase services from nationally empanelled contractors, be it for building atoilet or even buying safe, hygienic meals.

When the economics of social schemes make sense, they will indeedwork. Until then, for the lives of our children, Rs 3.49 (US 6 cents) a day seems to be a surerecipe for disaster.

Apr 21, 2013

In the last decade, the world has come to view China andIndia as engines of global growth and the two countries have receivedunprecedented attention in the western media.

Of late, India has been in focus for all the wrong reasons,and has come under severe attack for its failure to protect its women and children. As perverts in India’s capital rape and brutalize 5 year olds, the police vent out their frustration on the victims’ kin, even offering bribes fornot lodging complaints. While devils will always exist, what is worrying about the incidents reported is that all of the rapes could have been prevented if the cops had performed their normal duties.

For a minority government struggling to stay in power foranother year and grappling with vanishing economic growth, these incidents serve to acutely embarrass its ministers. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to face a barrage of questions from the German media when he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this month.

The image of a resurgent, nuclear-powered India is atcomplete odds with horrifying tales of pedophiles striking at will, vultures riding public buses and cops who support crime. The international business community is perplexed and confused; wondering how they can do business in a city like Delhi.

The hue and cry back home is more than ever seen before. And that is perhaps the only silver lining about this period of despondency that began almost six months ago. As a thousand questions are being posed about the quality of policing, effectiveness of laws, overburdened judicial system and sustainability of slums and unauthorized colonies, the protests may trigger much-needed non-economic reforms.

Delhi has to minimize the third-world urban chaos which is usually romanticized in parallel cinema. It can upgrade to a world city by doubling its police force, recruiting more women officers, controlling immigration and regularizing its illegal colonies and bringing them under effective policing. Yes, it will not remain a place where anybody can arrive and start living on the streets but as Boston showed, only a society with order can isolate criminals.

Feb 01, 2013

The brutal gang rape of a student last December in a moving bus in India’s capital city once again served to prove that economic prosperity alone cannot bring about social change. It is true that atrocities against women and crime in general occur in almost every part of the world and cannot be eliminated altogether. The shadowy lanes of New York are as much unsafe as the slums of Mumbai. However, the more civil and progressive a society is, the higher is the predictability of safety of its members.

Poverty, deprivation and poor policing are some of the ills that plague the world’s most densely populated cities. Social disparities aggravate the situation.

While Delhi has massively improved its infrastructure and improved the quality of living of its middle classes in the last few years, it has also become difficult to administer. Migrants from all over India flock to the city for livelihood or to escape from lifestyle challenges in rural areas. There is also a huge native population that has been uprooted from their semi-urban homes to make way for roads, malls and residential apartments. All of a sudden, two distinct social classes find themselves jostling for space in the same city. One that is westernized, liberal and more accepting of women as equals. And the other class which is barely educated, patriarchal and views women, land and cattle as objects of possession. To make matters worse, those who understand the tension and advocate modesty and caution are derided by feminists.

A minister from Jaipur who suggested that school girls wear traditional clothes instead of skirts was mocked at. It is true that layers of clothes do not deter an eve teaser. However, the point to be understood here is that while boys will eventually have to learn to respect women and their bodies, conservatism may be prudent in situations where entire villages are uncomfortable with western attire and attitudes. It takes a generation of progress and moral education to become liberal.

Bollywood fuels India’s imagination. It glorifies the pursuit and conquest of women and hard-sells raunchy item numbers that portray socializing, confident women as desperate pleasure seekers. What message then, goes out to half-educated rustics who seek self-actualization in mimicking behavior that is supposedly ‘cool’ and macho?

In the moneyed neighbourhoods of Delhi lies a deep-rooted bias for the male child. Inheritance laws and centuries of subjugation have relegated women to being second class citizens. Things are changing but social change has not kept pace with the economic boom. Arranged marriages are still the preferred choice and boys don’t work in the kitchen or sweep the floor. India’s middle classes live in Victorian England!

Sep 27, 2012

Global corporations today are experiencing a quantum of change that is unprecedented.

Irrespective of the structure and original philosophy of the organization, its culture and performance are being determined by employee needs, motivation and alignment. To complicate things, employee groups are becoming less homogenous by the day.

It is true that as structures get flat and federalized, the degree of individual empowerment and freedom increases. For example, in Handy’s inverted doughnut organization, which is more like a fried egg, as power is decentralized, people become more responsible for their own career.

Here the solid core or yolk in the middle represents the essential KRAs of the job and the white space is the opportunity for discretion and creating additional value, limited by a fine boundary.

The mechanical, hierarchical corporations of the last century did not afford opportunity for discretion and role refinement but they were effective in their own right. New age companies, on the other hand, pride themselves on an entrepreneurial workplace. But what happens when employees define their own agendas based on weighted needs of certainty, growth or success?

Daniel "Dan" R. Denison is an expert on organizational culture and leadership, and the impact they have on the performance and effectiveness of organizations. He talks about four concepts that describe the impact that organizational culture can have on effective performance: the involvement of employees; adaptability to respond to new circumstances; a consistency or strong, clearly defined culture; and a clear mission providing direction and meaning.

These are all variables and are not the same across geographies, ethnicities and age groups.

Then how does an organization optimize performance? It must recognize that employees, especially those with high empowerment, will seek to pull in different directions unless the leadership propels them towards achieving collective goals that hold the promise of individual gratification. People are driven not just by monetary considerations but by needs of mobility, flexibility, respect and inclusivity.

Jul 10, 2012

Articulating his dream of an independent and democratic India, father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi once said, “My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest.”

Sixty five years after independence, Gandhi’s dream stands hijacked as India's polity is held to ransom by a powerful few who have reduced democracy, through careful and calibrated subversion, to a mere spectatorship. This is even as a new class of ruling elite has emerged in the land, adding more dynasties that stake claim to political inheritance and entitlement.

In the world’s largest democracy, universal franchise has become as much a curse as it is a blessing. While the educated, empowered and discerning upper and middle classes seldom vote in large numbers, it is usually the poor and the struggling who exercise that right in the only hope of securing a better tomorrow. However, large groups among these masses are easily swayed by populist promises, threatened with violence, intimidated by the prospect of sectarian conflict and charmed by tokenisms. Not to mention identity of caste and creed that is reinforced at every election to keep the faithful flock together. The result is a system that can be manipulated at will, with the right kind of resources, to extract a poll outcome of choice. And even when the masses do rise in anger, to overthrow a Government after years of misrule, the sins are quickly forgiven. A new batch of gullible voters is ready after five years.

Unfortunately for India, politics is not anymore about ideologies. It is all about numbers and sharing the spoils of power between the ruling partners. The subversion of India’s democracy is best summarized by three notable political events of the past few days.

Recently, the chief minister’s wife in one of north India’s largest states was elected unopposed to the legislative assembly. No other party or independent candidate dared to contest against the political greenhorn. Was it the fear of state-backed armed goons or the inevitability of defeat that kept others at bay? Maybe it was both. The Indian electorate, once besotted, is known to think of their leaders as Kings and Queens and not as public servants. This is how feudal political dynasties have thrived since independence.

In another state in south India, the son of a former state chief minister who died in a mysterious helicopter crash two years ago, was recently arrested for allegedly swindling millions of dollars during his father’s regime. Investigative authorities told the court that the gentleman had secured Government favors for industrialists in exchange for their investments in his private companies. However, the electorate thought otherwise. It has handed out a massive victory to the under trial’s party in crucial state bye-elections, endowing him with the political legacy of his late father.

The third example explores the politics behind electing India’s next President. Pranab Mukherjee, India’s former finance minister and a firefighter of the ruling party, was chosen by the Congress party chief to assume the high office. Mukherjee, a staunch loyalist who has served three generations of Gandhi leaders, was chosen over former President Kalam and despite stiff opposition by a regional party and important coalition partner from east India. The regional satrap was dropped for another one; someone who was willing to lend support for an unknown understanding.

Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the country’s first family, has failed to secure victory for his party in the last few important state elections. With no single party or leader having the charisma to appeal to the majority, the general elections in 2014 are likely to throw up a hung parliament. In that eventuality, the new President will have a decisive role to play in formation of the next Indian Government.

While Mukherjee may prove to be an exemplary constitutional head of state, one wonders who will attend to the burning fiscal issues that, by his own admission, plague the country. As policy paralysis and political brinksmanship continues in New Delhi, the economic problems of 1991 are back, bringing to naught two decades of efforts put in by private enterprise.

Maybe it is time to then evaluate India’s democracy for its utility, impact and worthiness and make radical changes to purge it of its inherent weaknesses.

Jun 30, 2012

Germany’s defeat to Italy in the semifinals of the Euro Cup 2012 on 27 June 2012 reminded me of its defeat to Spain on 6 July 2010 at the World Cup in South Africa.

I was in Bavaria that month and had watched two important matches that marked Germany’s run up to the semifinals. As the late Octopus Paul moved around predicting Germany’s fortune, coach Joachim Loew’s boys vanquished England and Argentina in succession.

When I had landed in Munich on 27 June 2010, the mood was electric before the match against old foes England. Fans outside the airport (see picture above) and in "beer gartens" across the city cheered lustily as Muller and company banged in one goal after another. The party continued well past midnight.

Against Argentina, the confidence was high amongst waiters and cabbies. There were buyers aplenty even with German flags selling for 10 Euros each. And Maradona's team "made it easy" just like England.

That was before the Germans ran into Spain.

Well, I would like to believe that Germany's luck ran out as soon as I stepped into the plane that fateful night. The team lost 0-1 to the Spaniards.

Strangely, the match versus Spain was approached with a lot of caution and fear. Not a single colleague or stranger I met was willing to bet money on Deutschland. Even the Octopus! I think they were defeated by their own non-belief. They held Euro champs Spain in high esteem and missed the daring attacks of previous matches.

Coming back to 2012, German footballers were again done in by their cautious approach against old nemesis Italy. Stars like Gomez, Podolski, Khedira, Kroos, Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger failed to produce a goal while the flamboyant Mario Balotelli struck twice to give Italy the lead in the first half. German strikers became so predictable that Italy’s goalkeeper Buffon was never troubled except for one productive penalty kick by Mesut Ozil. In the end, it did not count for much as Germany lost 1-2.

The Germans are known for dedication, precision and discipline. With time, their inexperienced football team will surely mature and bring home a major trophy. However, they would do well to learn a trick from the sheer daring of Prandelli’s Italy.

Jun 16, 2012

I was born several months before Saigon fell to North Vietnamese Communist troops on 30 April, 1975.

When I was old enough to read the graffiti on Calcutta’s streets, I wondered why people wanted to be called “Vietnam”. Everywhere I looked, the walls were painted with slogans of Amar Naam, Tomar Naam, Vietnam.

It was not until much later that I realized that the conquest of South Vietnam and its unification with the North was celebrated as momentous victory for communist forces across the world.

Little did I know that I would land up in that battle-scarred country one day! And although Saigon was now Ho Chi Minh City, it was the capital city of Hanoi that had called out to me.

Wherever I went, from the Old Quarter to the five-star hotels nearby, people were friendly, warm and industrious. They had no time or need to wallow in pity or despair. The roads were busy, the restaurants full and the shops were doing brisk business. Scores of two-wheelers and unique tricycle rickshaws reminded me so much of India. The multinationals had started pouring in and the land was soaking up money with a vengeance.

It has now been five years since I last visited Vietnam. What surprised me then, continues to inspire even now. It is said that about fifty-eight thousand Americans and 3 million Vietnamese were killed in the War. But Vietnam and Cambodia, both devastated by the mass genocide of the seventies, moved on with a determined ferocity.

Vietnam in particular, as chronicled in journalist Bill Hayton’s Vietnam: Rising Dragon has undergone tremendous change but has paid a social price for it. But then, which emerging economy in Asia hasn’t? What is noteworthy is that it has crept out of the Chinese shadow and is asserting its sovereign rights in the sensitive South China Sea region.

The people and administration have all woken up to the opportunities of globalization and free trade and if projections are to be believed, Vietnam will grow at 6% in 2012, not far behind India’s dodgy 6.5% and China’s 7%. It is true that full civil liberty and democracy still eludes the nation, but the pictures we see now are not of crying children running to escape bombs.

Vietnam has conquered its past and is set to carve a rich destiny for its people.

Apr 11, 2012

The irony of social media is that while we all rely on it greatly to socialize, collaborate and broadcast, we in turn are exploited by these net-abled sites and programs as media content developers and revenue generators.

What is a social media site without human patronage? A mere platform; as dead as deadwood. Excited at the many prospects it holds, we do our best to jump in and stay ahead of the times. It is true that tablets and smartphones have changed the way people stay connected and interact. It is also true that smartphones sell because of the new need to socialize 24x7 which did not exist a decade ago.

To create a need that did not exist in the first place is a marketeer's masterstroke. Ten years ago, you still read the newspaper and saw it on TV. And you still called your best friends and relatives many times in a year. So, what has changed?

Now, you have 500 friends but the time and phonebook entries to call only call ten of them. Now, you have both freedom of expression as well as unprecedented reach and access.

The downside? Everybody has equal reach and access. From the moron who wants to sell you a blue pill to the colleague who tracks your professional contacts, all of them are as powerful as you in the new worldwide democracy where money opens all cyber gates. Everybody is a guru, achiever, counselor and an expert on everything. And anybody who shuns social media is branded as a weirdo and a loser. Especially with corporates buying social media services in the same mad rush that they bought mobile handsets in the past.

Don't get it wrong. I use social media to find friends, search for data and publish an occasional blog post. The benefits of new technology are great. Speed, convenience and low cost are some of the top benefits. But instead of leveraging social media in our normal lives, we are modifying our behavior and living patterns to a ridiculous extent to fill the coffers of software, hardware and telecom companies.

What gets us so hooked to social media in the first place? The technology may be new but it appeals to the basic human psyche which remains unchanged from the Stone Age. Just like narcotics, social media creates a compelling pseudo-reality that redeems our innermost desires and fantasies and lifts our self-esteem.

Why else would anyone be Tweeting his GPS location as if James Bond wants to gun him down? Why else would anyone post provocative honeymoon photos on Facebook when the world knows that her marriage is on the rocks? Why else would a balding loner brag about his tiresome international trips on LinkedIn?

Mar 25, 2012

A recent study cited in The Economic Times claims that affluent Indians donated 3% of their income to charity last year. While this is a meagre percentage compared to the 9% that America's rich give away, India should nevertheless be thankful. After all, the nonprofit organizations in the country depend heavily on individual and trust-based funding. And some of them work in areas where there is no semblance of governance and where law exists only on paper.

I met functionaries of a nonprofit last week and was informed that for as less as eighty thousand rupees a year, a donor can educate all the children in a village. I wish many more donors would support such causes.

The study cited in the Economic Times reveals that the young affluent donate less than the rich who are older. And that is what worries me. Here is a generation that is reaping the benefits of privatization and IT-led income growth. Alongwith their counterparts from China and South Africa, they are today the biggest spenders in the malls of Malaysia and Thailand. Top luxury brands are flying marketing consultants here to entice them with the right aspirational appeal.

Affluence is not contained anymore within the posh neighbourhoods of South Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. From Moradabad to Indore, Noida to Pune, Goa to Ghaziabad...affluence is clearly showing in the competitive consumerism that middle class Indians now indulge in. While our per capita consumption of energy and goods is nowhere near the West's benchmarks, the growth is phenomenal. Especially if we recall that only half of all Indians get two square meals a day.

While the upper middle class is upgrading from LCDs to LEDs, India's new political parties are building voter constituencies with the promise of free tablets, colour TVs and subsidized rail tickets. Bereft of any core ideology, these parties have found mass populism to be a convenient route to power.

I don't know what is worse- an inequal society which consumes more than it produces or a country where everyone is equally poor and everything is subsidized and rationed.

Mar 11, 2012

At a time when banks are lending less money at a higher rate and for shorter periods, Asian companies like Hutchison Whampoa owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka Shing and Reliance Industries owned by India’s billionaire Mukesh Ambani are tapping bond markets in a frenzy; afraid that the Eurozone crisis will dry up the funds that they may need in future.

The value of blue-chip bonds sold outside Japan in the Asia-Pac region has hit 14 billion US dollars, says The Wall Street Journal. HSBC advised Hutchison Whampoa on recent bond deals and is the leading deal advisor in Asia this year, excluding Japan.

From China which has recorded the highest fiscal deficit this year to India which has a record trade deficit, Asian economies are struggling to balance inflation and enough liquidity for growth. In a major relief, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 75 basis points from 5.5 per cent to 4.75 per cent with effect from March 10.

This reduction is expected to inject around Rs.48,000 crore of primary liquidity into the banking system. CRR is the percentage of deposits that commercial banks must keep with the central bank.

Industrialists and bankers welcomed the RBI's move arguing that it is a huge positive for the economy and will make loans available for growing companies. It was a surprise move because the Economic Survey report on macroeconomic trends is not expected before March 15. But what is being glossed over is the fact that liquidity pressures will continue through March as advance taxes are paid and books are closed for the year.

However, with the GDP growth forecast for 2012-13 being downgraded to 7% or lower, the Indian Government has fewer options but to pump in cash to revive the economy. With general elections due only in 2014, the middle classes will have to currently live with the side-effect of inflation. China, on the other hand, has decided to settle for 7.5% growth but can't risk burdening its masses.